


punching up

by lionsenpai



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 05:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9219866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionsenpai/pseuds/lionsenpai
Summary: Missions are always stressful when no one protects the healer. Luckily, Angela knows how to defend herself.





	

**Author's Note:**

> finally cross-posting some tumblr mini-fics so here's this old thing :9
> 
> request was "this is not working out" for pharmercy

“I need a doctor.”

The voice of Jesse McCree crackled over the intercom for the fourth time in the last minute, and for the fourth time in the last minute, Angela promised herself she would throttle him just as soon as this was over. 

 _I know, you incorrigible cowboy_ , she thought furiously as she rushed into an abandoned shop, a pop of a heavily modified shotgun promising Roadhog was in pursuit. Moving at his own pace, but in pursuit. _And I could use someone who won’t lead me right into the enemy’s fortifications!_

Angela shouldered her stave, ducked behind a cafe’s counter, and reached for her pistol, listening to the heavy footfalls growing louder. Hissing, she said, “Jesse, _find me_.”

Her Valkyrie suit hummed softly, the monitor in her ear alerting her of her rising pulse, and Angela barely choked down a scream. Now her own technology was nagging her, and still there wasn’t a single member of the team in sight. 

Where in the world was Fareeha?

“Pinned down, doc,” came Jesse’s response. “Would mighty appreciate a little help getting unstuck here.”

Angela’s sharp response was cut off by the sound of Roadhog firing off another shot. She flinched bodily, squeezing the grip of her pistol and counting her breaths. There was a deep grunt as the man scuffed his boots over the pavement and came to a full stop. She could have sworn she heard him sniffing the air, trying to scent her out, and she held her breath. 

A sinister chuckle. Angela closed her eyes and prayed. 

It seemed like forever before he began to move on, retreating back the way he came to seek out her teammates, no doubt. Her suit warned her of dropping oxygen levels, and she sucked in a desperate gasp of air. 

“ _Doc_ \- ”

Angela lifted her hand to the comm-set, opening the line. “ _Jesse._ ”

“Well, it’s a bit of an emergency here.”

She left the line open, hearing Hanzo’s response about being more careful get cut off by a flurry of gunfire, and steeled herself to rise to her feet. 

Holstering her pistol, she held her stave in one hand, peeking up over the counter. No one. Hopefully Roadhog had moved on. Unfortunately, her team probably had too. 

Sweating and running high on adrenaline, Angela crept as quietly as she could to the edge of the counter, and made a break for it when she didn’t see Roadhog. The cafe’s windows were blown in - probably from the explosive first encounter between Overwatch and opposition forces on this street - and Angela made a beeline for them, leaping over the low ledge to freedom.

And catching sight of the gleam of metal from the corner of her eye. 

She didn’t think. She reacted, throwing a wild left, and hit the person on the side of the head, their helmet flying from their head and revealing - 

“ _Fareeha?_ ”

Fareeha stood stone-still and slack-jawed, her eyes wide and she reached up to touch her temple, only seeming to notice her helmet had been knocked off by the blow a couple of seconds later. One of Angela’s hands throbbed and the other was already on her pistol, and at the same time, she withdrew them both, pulling them close to her chest, and heaving a relieved sigh.

Her relief didn’t last long. “ _Mein Gott_ , Fareeha. Where have you _been_?”

Fareeha stared, shrinking somewhat, and it was only then Angela realized she had taken a step forward, her fist brandished like a weapon. 

“I…” Words failed her, but Fareeha managed to motion to her armor, the soot covering portions and the dent of gunfire spattering across her breastplate. It was only when Angela forced herself to back off that Fareeha found her tongue. “I was coming back for you.”

“I was counting on you to protect me!” Despite trying to reign herself in, Angela couldn’t help the volume of her voice. “McCree and Hanzo are useless and Reinhardt has already rushed the objective!”

The comm crackled in her ear, the voices of McCree and Hanzo jumbling into a mix of _pardon_ and _what_. 

 _Open comm_ , she remembered, slapping her palm against her face. She opened her mouth to defend her point, but just as she was about to, Reinhardt gave a boisterous laugh and said, “Friends, worry not! I almost have it!”

As if to make his point - or _hers_ \- he gave a hoot and swung his hammer, the sound of its flare warping through the comms. 

Fareeha gave a soft breath that Angela immediately identified as laughter, her gaze snapping up, eyes narrowed. Instead of shying from the angry look, Fareeha reached for Angela’s comm-set and cut it off. “Forgive me. I saw a sniper.”

“Yes well -” Angela sniffed, wholly offended. “I saw Roadhog.”

Fareeha winced, but it was a lighthearted gesture, one accompanied by the mouthing of _ouch_. 

 _Ouch_ was right. 

“I’ll stay in sight this time,” Fareeha promised. 

Without the race of adrenaline in her veins, Angela’s anger was no match for the note of utter sincerity in Fareeha’s tone. She gave a final huff, but finally lifted her stave from her back and held it at the ready. Clipped as she could manage, she said, “Please.”

Fareeha lifted her helmet from the ground and pulled it on, but instead of immediately taking off, she flashed a jackal’s grin and said, “But… If you ask me, it should be Roadhog counting himself lucky he did not find you. That was a beautiful punch.”

Rolling her eyes, she grumbled, “Fareeha _, please._ ”

“I’m serious! If I didn’t have my helmet on, you would have given me a concussion.”

“Oh, _stop_.” Angela’s lips flattened into a frown, but it was halfhearted, more a response to Fareeha’s exaggeration than anything else. 

Honestly, Fareeha was just lucky Angela hadn’t had her pistol in hand, else she would have actually needed healing. 

“I told you you were making progress with our workouts. What was it you said? _This isn’t working?_ ” Fareeha shoot her a smirk, not even trying to hide her smugness. “You should tell that to this knot.”

She pointed to her temple, but it was far too early for swelling, and Angela knew she knew it.

“Fareeha, it _might_ bruise.” Angela jostled her with her elbow as she took up position next to her, prepared to take flight. To her severe annoyance, Fareeha staggered aside and gave a mock cry as if she’d been hit with a concussive round. Angela huffed, “The only way that will stick is if I decide not to heal you. Which I’m considering.”

“Oh, but I’m in so much pain,” Fareeha goaded. “Please Angela, won’t you reconsider?”

“I won’t! And if you keep this up, you’ll have another!”

“That sounds very threatening, Angela. I thought you were above violence?”

“Fareeha, if you are not in the air in three - ”

Fareeha laughed, the heavy plate across her shoulders bouncing, but she composed herself quickly, giving a final smile from beneath her helmet before leaping into the air. Angela shot up after her, smothering her irritation with the blessed security of being in the air at last. 

“We are on our way,” Fareeha said, her voice coming through the comm-set.

“You’re late,” Hanzo replied instantly.

“Could still use a doctor, doc.”

Reinhardt gave a woop of joy, the distinct sound of gunfire coming from his side. 

Angela’s Valkyrie suit informed her yet again that her pulse had spiked, but she ignored it, just like she ignored the rest of her team, focusing on the shape of Fareeha’s back and planning all the ways she would be making up for this later. 


End file.
